The Saudis also generated a great deal of anger by starting work on an elevator from the beach to the villa, which involved pouring a huge slab of cement directly on to the sand.

Which, for a time at least, would only result in a large pile of material with the consistency of talcum powder.

That said, the article notes that the 700+ “[outer] circle” (as opposed to the explicitly mentioned 300-person “inner circle”) is tradition–how many times has this occurred in the past, outside of the ME? I understand Somalia, Yemen, and Oman have lovely, uncrowded beaches…